US student challenges Israeli ban on entry of activists

US student Lara Alqasem sits for a hearing at the Tel Aviv district Court on October 11, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

A US student arrested upon arrival in Tel Aviv over her support of an anti-Israel movement appeared in a court in the occupied territories on Thursday to challenge the Israeli regime's entry ban.

US citizen Lara Alqasem, 22, arrived at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport on October 2 to study for a master’s degree at Hebrew University in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, but was not allowed to enter over her support for the boycott of goods from Israel.

Her “crime,” according to Israeli authorities, is that while studying for her bachelor’s degree Alqasem was president of a group that advocates the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. She was also a president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

Israeli officials say she could fly back to the US; however, she chose to stay and fight the ban in court, according to media reports.

Alqasem, whose grandparents are from Palestine, was held in detention at the airport for over a week until she appeared before Tel Aviv district court on Thursday to challenge the ban on BDS supporters.